Taxi Times International - March 2015 - English

GUEST COMMENTARY
COMPETITION
Future-look: the first mass-produces hydrogen-powered vehicle “Mirai”
CHRISTOPH M. SCHWARZER
… works and lives in Hamburg as
a freelance journalist. He is a
specialist in the energy transition
in the automotive industry.
»Highly paid
lobbyists
work for
Uber – in
Washington
alone one
hundred«
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A Japanese automaker has introduced the first mass-produced
hydrogen-powered vehicle. Our guest commentator proposes that
the first models be used right away as taxis.
From Madrid to Rio, from Seoul to Portland. Widespread
bans on Uber have pervaded the past few weeks. Investors are
not impressed – quite the contrary.
Mirai is Japanese for ‘future’. This is the name Toyota gave
its hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle. Company president
Akio Toyoda personally handed over the first car
to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in January. The U.S. and Europe are
following the domestic market; initially only a few hundred cars
will be produced annually. It would be disastrous if this innovative
marvel of mobility were only to be experienced by influential
people in high positions. The ideal way for the general public to
get to know the Mirai would be to put it use as a taxi.
Fuel cell vehicles are the ultimate electric cars. Rather than
patiently charging an overweight and outsized battery with electricity
for hours, the Mirai generates it on board. Electric power
from hydrogen and the surrounding air is used to fuel the 113
kW (154 HP) engine. The tanks are filled in three minutes. Then
the car can drive over 500 kilometres, taking drivers and passengers
silently and comfortably through the streets.
It is purely speculative, but it would make sense for Toyota to
provide some of the newly manufactured Mirais for use as taxis
throughout Los Angeles, California, or Hamburg, Germany, or
London, UK. The Japanese have understood that, in order to sell
the cars in a given country, the infrastructure must be in place.
It would work without hydrogen filling stations. These are often
sponsored and constructed by state institutions. For example, the
NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development
Organization) in Japan and the National Organisation Hydrogen
and Fuel Cell Technology (NOW) in Germany have done so successfully.
The advantages of the technology are obvious. Fuel cell-powered
electric vehicles have no limitations and are therefore superior
to battery-powered vehicles. Taxi drivers would not have to calculate
whether they can complete a requested route. The feeling of
being tied to a cable is now in the past. So is having to calculate
reduced ranges in winter. Fuel cell cars are completely flexible
and practical.
Toyota intends to convince customers with yet another benefit
for which the Prius model is known a million times over: reliability.
Many of the Mirai’s parts are identical to those of the Prius.
In simple terms, the combustion engine has been replaced by the
fuel cell stack and the gasoline by the pressurised gas tank. The
aim of this is to keep the costs affordable, since the manufacturer
cannot yet achieve economies of scale while the vehicle is still
being produced in small quantities. The price varies regionally,
ranging from US$50,000 to €78,000.
Whether the hydrogen-powered fuel cell car Mirai can assert
itself in the competition against battery-powered cars remains to
be seen. What is clear is that it would be suitable for everyday
taxi use as the perfect combination of permanent availability and
low cost. The chances are good that this will happen. It is also
clear that competing vehicle technologies tend to reinvigorate
business. And this is urgently needed in a local market that has
often been overly stagnant. The Mercedes diesel engine models,
the hybrid engine Toyota and the electric battery-powered Nissan
will soon be competing against a fourth concept: the fuel cell car.
May the best car win. •
cms
PHOTOS: Toyota, Schwarzer
ILLUSTRATION: Löffler
With its service UberPOP, Uber
seems to be in a boxing
match and taking a massive
pounding at every round. A ban here, an
indictment there, a data scandal here, a
rape there. Uber is getting the count on
every round, and it’s working its way up
to ten. Even so, the bets on the company
increase every time the gong is struck.
Investment companies are putting more
money behind Uber. The company now has
a value of $40 billion (see the comparison
on page 25).
Filthy rich, but illegal. The American
company is being shown its limits, especially
with its UberPOP service. Governments
and courts in more and more
countries are pronouncing unequivocal
bans. UberPOP has been illegal in Rio de
Janeiro since December; in Europe, the service
was banned in the Netherlands and
Spain, and as of the new year in France. In
Asia, Uber has been banned in India, South
Korea and Thailand. China followed suit at
the beginning of January. The Ministry of
Transportation banned several ride-sharing
apps used to contact private drivers without
taxi licences.
Even in Uber’s country of origin, the group
and its domestic competitor Lyft have each
had to retreat. Operations were banned by
the State of Nevada on 26 November, and
operations were suspended in Portland,
Oregon on 21 December.
In many other regions, the Uber management
was not deterred. With the help
of billions of dollars from investment bankers
who continue to support the company
in spite of negative headlines (in India, for
example, an Uber driver was reported to
have raped a woman), Travis Kalanick and
his employees pay the fines that are due
or hire expensive lawyers to appeal such
decisions in court. Highly paid lobbyists
also work for Uber. In Washington alone
there are said to be 100 lobbyists who are
in close contact with local politicians.
But even these measures fail in many
places. In Germany, the objection by an
administrative court in Hamburg to the
UberPOP ban was dismissed by the highest
court authority back in November. In order
to keep the service afloat, Uber is now
offering rides at dumping prices below
vehicle costs in Hamburg, Berlin and Düsseldorf,
which is legal under German law.
The drivers are said to receive payments
to make up for the low fares.
In Spain, the court pronounced a ban at
the beginning of December, yet Uber continued
to offer UberPOP. Spain’s Supreme
Court pulled the plug on 27 December. The
telecommunications services and credit
card service providers were then ordered
not to provide service to Uber ‘effective
immediately’. The company was thereby
deprived of the technical foundation of its
business idea. A few days later, Spain’s
Uber manager Carles Lloret announced the
discontinuation of the UberPOP service.
This brings us to another boxing match
analogy: brought down by a technical
knockout. The investors will not be pleased
at how this ends. n
jh
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22 TAXI MARCH / 2015
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